Star Trek fans rejoiced in 2009 when J.J. Abrams’ spectacular movie revived the much-loved franchise, and in 2013 you can watch the highly anticipated sequel in addition to taking direct control of Kirk and Spock in a new third-person, co-op shooter loaded with DirectX 11, 3D Vision, and PhysX tech. To learn more, we spoke to the game’s Creative Director at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

“NVIDIA’s been an amazing partner,” says Sheldon Carter of developer Digital Extremes. “We’ve got tons of NVIDIA stuff [in Star Trek]. We’ve got PhysX going - we’re really happy about how that works with our Gorn! Gorn are the new enemy we’re introducing at E3, and obviously they’ve got tails and tail physics, and all sorts of other good stuff that we’re relying on [NVIDIA’s PhysX] to help us out with.”

“[Star Trek]’s just gorgeous,” continues Carter. “As soon as you start getting tessellation and DirectX 11 goodness… and on top of that you’ve got the 3D Vision [stereoscopic rendering] if you’re cranking it all up. It’s just fully immersive. I mean this is what I think Star Trek’s about. It’s about being in a sci-fi world, and what better way to experience it?”

To learn more about Star Trek's 3D Vision technology and the development partnership, we spoke to Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at publisher Namco Bandai Games.

“We’ve partnered with NVIDIA using their 3D Vision technology to bring the entire world to life in 3D, and more importantly the game has been made to be 3D from day one. The team sat there at Digital Extremes going, ‘how do we create a game with 3D in mind, so that the 3D is adding to the experience, bringing fans into the world of Star Trek?’ We sat down with the NVIDIA team and Digital Extremes development team and said, ‘what can we do to add 3D in, not just to say we’ve done it in 3D?’, but the matter of the fact is that we want to be able to enhance the experience, so when consumers play the game they feel much further and deeper into the Star Trek universe.”

Speaking of the collaboration between the various parties, Choi adds, “The NVIDIA team worked very closely with Digital Extremes and the [film] studio, helping them with development, and vice versa. So we’re pretty much a collaborative team, together bringing this world and full experience [alive].”

“What 3D adds is taking you in and immersing you in the world,” says Choi.” There’s a lot of times in a game like a third-person shooter, like this, where you find yourself not being able to tell the full story, perceive the depth and distant of the objects, and see all the different enemies and the detail. Coming to you in 3D I think is really different and unique experience you don’t see anywhere.”

Traditionally a console game developer and publisher, Namco Bandai is reinvesting in the PC as its true size becomes apparent thanks to Steam and other digital distribution services, and it is this reinvestment that Choi addresses before wrapping up the interview.

“PC gaming for us as a company, Namco Bandai, is a renewed focus. What you’re going to be seeing, starting with Star Trek [and Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition], [is that we’re bringing other games to PC]. Why? Because PC gamers love games. PC gamers deserve the best, so that’s why we’re spending a lot of time with NVIDIA, who have a good expertise in making the best hardware available in the PC world, so if you look at Star Trek, that collaboration helps make sure we’re maximizing the power. Games like Star Trek will play the best on the NVIDIA platform.”

That’s fantastic to hear, Carlson; welcome back to the PC, we’ve missed you.